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Hi! I'm new to gardening (help lots with friends gardens but never had one myself) and was wondering what I could do with this below ground space outside my window :0
Edit: as many of you have pointed out this place is a bad area to grow things and should stay as a cleared out firescape. Ill trust the wisdom of the crowed and not temp fate, thanks everyone for being polite with my misunderstanding of the area!
I want you to start with the idea that I'm an idiot, but don't those exist to be a fire escape from the basement? Wouldn't filling it in negate that, or at least make it more difficult? Again, idiot that lives in the state with the water line two inches below the ground (Florida), which prevents us from making basements.
If that's not true, maybe you'll get someone that comes here to tell me how wrong I am, and gives you great ideas to do with the 'not fire escape'.
"I want you to start with the idea that I'm an idiot, but..." is my new favourite disclaimer.
No, you're right. That's a fire escape window. It's not just some empty/unused space.
Don't worry you have a very valid concern! However there are 3 other fire escapes on the basement floor, making mine technically not a mandatory fire escape. But even so I don't see how stepping on plants would prevent me from exiting the window and using the ladder
if the fire is at the door, or outside the door of that room, or something is blocking your way out of the room, you won't be able to access the other fire exits.
People have put a lot of thought into these - they don't make them, just for fun.
It’s in case there is a fire upstairs…
If you’re on a third-fourth-fifth etc. story window, and the fire is outside your doors you’re also trapped. So this can’t be the reason for the required basement windows.
Code specifically requires the need for one exit window, AND not all rooms need them, only sleeping areas, and only one needed even if there is multiple. Offices don’t, gyms don’t, bedrooms only. Some local codes go above and beyond this and most their own various reasons. Like some places requireing every unit on a high rise to have a fire escape. These are FAR from the norm, sitcoms love having them though, so they seem more ubiquitous than they are. It’s also per unit, not every bedroom in the unit… for the same reason as above.
You’re right people have thought about it, but you’re not correct, at all.
The point of a fire escape is to have a point of exit if the other fire escapes are not available. Just because you have others does not mean that particular one can be used for other purposes.
Clean it
Nothing will grow here, nor should it. It's too close to a standing structure, and this is certainly shaded for the majority of the day. It's also a safety escape. Leave it alone.
I don't know if they're fire escape windows, but they'll at least need drainage. I wouldn't put anything there. The roots will grow at the foundation. Maybe a few little plants in pots at most, if you can reach it from inside.
How about painting the corrugated metal with flowers, in pleasant and lively (and non-flammable) colors?
Might genuinly go with this idea, as everyone has pointed out putting plants there isnt a great idea but I can at least add some color!
Sorry, everyone is right. I wouldn’t mess with it, as tempting as it might be.